


For Better or For Worse

by wintergreen28



Series: our lives together [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Genre: Aaron Hotchner is a baddie, Aaron has a cruuuuush, Aaron's a dork, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dave playing matchmaker, Derek Morgan is the best best friend, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Girls nights, Haley does die, Hotch is pretty oblivious until Dave said wake tf up, I'm sorry but we're featuring Nick Woods' death in this fic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jack ships it too, Kenny gives good hugs, Kidnapping, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Molly do be scary tho, Ragosa is only kind of tolerable, Rossi Morgan and Derek can come to girls nights because why not, Torture, mentions of Elle, mentions of Thad, reader was with TC when Thad died, the entire team ships it, toxic exes? we have those here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:35:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26268856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintergreen28/pseuds/wintergreen28
Summary: Elizabeth Walker is a FBI profiler, and a relatively young one too. After getting into a special program when she was 13, she joined the army as a medic as a minor, where she met TC and Thad Callahan on her first tour. She became very good friends with them and went to the "University of TC Callahan" who helped her get through medical school. She was with TC for all of his time in the army and became his best friend and became a doctor with him later. Needing change, she joined the FBI's BAU and became very close to the unit as well. She joined shortly after Emily and almost immediately harbored a crush on Hotch. We'll see where it goes with the two of them, but they will be together eventually one way or anotherHow will the author write Alvez and Chavez when they’re played by the same guy? We don’t know I guess we’ll find outThis starts about early season three and will most likely go up/through when they go into Witness Protection and then I'll have them come out and work desk jobs for the BAU because I miss Hotch
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Original Female Character(s), Aaron Hotchner/Reader, Drew Alister/Rick Lincoln, Jordan Alexander/T. C. Callahan, Topher/his wife
Series: our lives together [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959631
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	1. Arrival

Well this should be fun.

Following closely behind Chief Strauss, she led me through what felt like a foreign office, with desks in the middle which she brushed off as the "bullpen". She led me up a couple of stairs to a closed off office where a very tired looking man sat at his desk with his head in his hands, obviously between files of paperwork. He looked up as we entered his office and Strauss walked right up to him.

"Aaron, I'd like you to meet Doctor Walker. Your new agent."

"There has to be a mistake," The man now known as Aaron said, thumbing through a couple of files, his brow furrowing, "We just got a new agent two weeks ago."

"There isn't a mistake Agent Hotchner, this is your new agent. Yes, you had Ms. Prentiss come in recently, but the Director thought it would be time for another set of fresh eyes."

"I hope she isn't a replacement."

"I can assure you, I'm not." I spoke up, smoothing my skirt down and then folding my arms over my blazer, "I'm just adding to the numbers here."

Agent Hotchner visibly relaxed at my statement, reaching out a hand of welcome.

"Aaron Hotchner. You can call me Hotch, the rest of the team does."

"Elizabeth Walker. Elizabeth or Liz is fine." I shook his hand, giving a brief smile.

"You're just in time Walker, we're about to have a new case. I'll introduce you to everyone in the briefing. For now, your desk is down in the bullpen, next to Morgan's." He said, slowly taking his eyes off me and gesturing to the bullpen.

"Who's Morgan?" I asked, following his gesture with my eyes trying to make out the different people in the office.

"Right, follow me then." He stood up from his chair, and led me out to the bullpen, Strauss following behind us closely. He led me right up to a desk near a man with mocha-colored skin who was sporting a grin, laughing at something a younger, man, who definitely did not hit the gym as much as "Morgan" said. I placed my bag down on the desk that he pointed to and everyone spun in their chairs to look up at me with a look of confusion in their eyes. Just then, a young blonde woman rushed by us with a multitude of files in her hands, waving towards, what I assume was the briefing room.

Aaron motioned for me to follow him, and I did, surrounded by the different strangers at desks I could call my new unit. Once inside the briefing room, I slipped into a chair next to the man I could assume was Morgan and a young woman with long dark hair. 

"Everyone this is Doctor Elizabeth Walker-- She is going to be our new team member and one of our newest profilers." Aaron spoke out, and I gave a small wave.

"Doctor? Are you a Ph.D. like me?" The young skinny guy spoke out.

"No, I'm actually an MD. I worked in a hospital for most of my years up until now."

"How long did medical school take you?"

"From... uh when I was fourteen to when I was seventeen?"

"She's a child prodigy too!" He cheered, raising his mug.

"Not entirely, but there's a long story behind it." I chuckled.

Aaron laughed a little and continued to introduce me to them, "This is Jennifer Jareau, we all call her JJ," he said pointing to the young blonde woman who gave me a wave, "Emily Prentiss," the woman next to me smiled, "Derek Morgan," the man to my left, my new desk-mate shook my hand, "David Rossi," an older man across the table from me also waved, "Doctor Spencer Reid," the young man, who was apparently a child prodigy smiled awkwardly and waved, "and Penelope Garcia, our technical analyst." Aaron finished off as a woman rushed into the room, dressed in very bright colors smiled and shook my hand as she walked over to her seat.

"Miracle worker is more like it." Penelope said, rolling her eyes jokingly, earning a slight smile from Aaron and a small laugh from Derek. 

"Alright everyone, you're going to upstate New York today where there's been a series of murders, who the police department thinks is a serial," JJ said, clicking a remote to go through crime scene photos, "All teenage girls, all brunettes and of average height and build."

"The unsub is carving messages into their legs?" Dave said, flipping through his own photos. Looking through mine, I noticed that the "unsub" was leaving taunting messages to those who find the bodies-- 'can't catch me', 'look what i've done', 'give me what i want and i'll stop'

"Has the police told us what exactly he wants? It says in the last message that he wants something." I spoke up, furrowing my brows as a sign of disgust.

"Could be power," Reid pointed out, "the way he's strangling them, it's very personal but the messages are trying to make him seem more intelligent and cunning than he probably is."

"Whatever he is, he's organized and will probably strike again soon. The coroner said that there was only three days between kills?"

"That's correct."

"That's a short cooling off period. It means we only have a day and a half before he drops another body."

"Wheels up in thirty." Everyone got up quickly at Hotch's order, but I must have seemed a little stunned still because Morgan leaned down and reached out a hand to help me up.

"Come on hot stuff, I'll show you where the jet is. You got a go bag?"

"Always-- hot stuff?"

"You seem like you got guts girl, I think the nickname will fit in enough time." I smiled at that.

"I'm sure it will."


	2. The Jet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the briefing, the team hops on the jet and Hotch asks Elizabeth how she got her MD

The team had just finished going over theories and evidence. Everyone had taken their seats and were just beginning to chat, whether it be about the case or just life in general. Seated at a table with Morgan, Reid, who was sitting across from us at another table but still participating in the conversation, Hotch and Prentiss, all of them were talking about their lives, the parts they were willing to share, to help me get to know them better. I learned that Aaron had a son, and a wife that wasn't a big fan of his work, but he lit up when he talked about them, a good family man. Emily had a mother in a political position and spent a good portion of her life abroad, but didn't share much that happened after age sixteen. Morgan grew up in Chicago, had a dad that fell in the line of duty, and was a Chicago cop before joining the FBI, and was very proud of what he had become. Reid grew up in Las Vegas and graduated high school very early, and has multiple Ph.D.s. He didn't share about his family life though; I wonder if there's something wrong at home.

"Come on Walker, you gotta tell us about you now." Emily said smiling, leaning an elbow on the table. 

"Yeah hot stuff, where you from?"

"I'm from San Antonio, originally, but I grew up between there and Pennsylvania."

"That's a drastic change."

"Yeah but that's what you get when you keep switching between your grandparents and your parents' houses."

"So you're an MD?" Aaron said, looking up at me, curiosity in his eyes. "You're twenty-two, how are you an MD already?"

"You really want to know the whole story?"

"We have an hour and half plane ride, why not?"

"I don't know if that's exactly long enough," I said with a chuckle, "I'll give you the abbreviated version."

"Whatever works."

"I joined the army when I was thirteen," Morgan's eyes went wide, "And I took a position as an Army medic. I was good at it, they put me through medical school a year later, and within a couple of years I was out. I started working between two hospitals, one in San Antonio, one in Pennsylvania, but mostly the one in San Antonio. I was a doctor for the rest of high school and into college. I went to actual college for a double major in psychology and criminal justice, and still was a doctor through that. I resigned when I went into the FBI academy. I still have my MD and pick up shifts from time to time, but now I'm here."

"Damn girl, I knew hot stuff would fit." Morgan laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. I just smiled and laughed too.

"So are you in the Army still?"

"Technically, yes. I'm obviously in the FBI now and that counts as some of my duty time because it's still serving my country, but I can get called for deployment or to get on tours, but not as often as I used to."

"How many tours have you been on?"

"Four." The whole table's eyes went a little wide, but that soon turned into respect.

"So you've been deployed, but does that translate to seeing action?" Reid asked, genuinely curious.

"I've seen action quite a few times. Medics and doctors are needed with different units, and I've had my fair share of treating injuries in the field. That's translated into some field injuries in the States too. You'd be surprised what went down at that hospital."

"Damn-- everybody in your unit alright?" I swallowed back a cough and tried to push the thought of Thad out of my mind. I guess I was silent for too long, because their expressions turned to solemn understanding.

"I'd rather not open up that can of worms right now." I answered, trying to avoid answering the question.

"Of course."

Half an hour later, the plane came to a landing, and I clutched onto the arms of my seat as we hit the runway. We all got up, grabbing our go bags and case files and made our way to the three dark SUVs waiting for us outside of the jet. Morgan and Reid hopped into one, JJ, Dave, and Emily into another, and Hotch and I landed in the last one.

It was awkward sitting there in silence with him, but also sort of comfortable. We stayed silent for most of the ride, but I found myself glancing over at him every so often, admiring the determination on his face, and the way it softened when he glanced back at me. I wasn't going to lie, he was attractive by all means. First things first, he's my boss and I'm not going to admire him like that especially when he has a wife and child. But he was very easy on the eyes. 


	3. Dead Men Tell Some Tales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team arrives at the police station, and Reid and Walker are sent to the coroner's office to check out the different bodies

It being too early for the team to check into their hotel, they decided to head to the police station as the primary location to get introductions over with, and then begin a plan of attack. The police station was only a convenient half hour trip from the airstrip, and Aaron and I spent most of the car ride falling in and out of comfortable conversation; generally small talk, points about the case, or Aaron making remarks on my career journey so far. He seemed to be impressed in what I had achieved before the young age of twenty-two, compared to his early thirties. Besides getting himself to be the section leader of the BAU, his other accomplishments of note were marrying Haley, having Jack, and then creating a rocky marriage because of the harsh expectations of his career of choice. 

We arrived at the police station before everything got too awkward. We were greeted by an older detective, and an overeager uniform who wanted to prove himself by being involved in this case. I made a mental note to look into him later, his eagerness leaving me wondering if he was possibly the unsub trying to inject himself into the investigation to gain even more control. The fact that he had found the first victim was also a little troubling, considering the location. Dense forestry, on state park grounds, and he was just the police offer who really wasn't even in his jurisdiction at the time.

"Thank you all for coming, I'm Detective Gonzalez. I hope you know that your help is appreciated. Our town hasn't seen a serial killer like this in years, hell none of us even remember the last time."

"Of course," Aaron said, breaking me out of my trance of thinking, "I'm SSA Hotchner, this is Agent Jareau and these are SSAs Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan, and Doctors Reid and Walker. Our analyst is currently still in Quantico. Is there a place we can set up?"

"Yes! Right this way," Gonzalez said, motioning toward a glassed in room, "You can use our conference room, we put up the boards like Agent Jareau requested, and we'll be happy to help with anything else."

"Alright, Rossi, Prentiss, go to the first crime scene, Morgan and I will go to the second one, and Walker and Reid, go to the coroner's office."

"Yes sir." I said, dropping my go bag in the conference room. Morgan tossed the keys to one of the SUVs to me across the room with a grim smile, and waved to me as I walked out, Reid following closely behind me. Settling into the car, Reid and I sat in awkward silence, both too nervous to really start conversation, unaware of which topics were not really to be covered yet. I settled for asking him about what he thought of the case, and sharing my possible theory on the uniform.

"Something about Wilkins just seems off to me."

"Same here-- it said in the file he found the first body?"

"Yeah, I just-- it seemed weird the location and that it was out of his jurisdiction, and his attitude about it? If it were me, I would have been horrified not excited." I concluded, turning the wheel closer to the coroner's office. Reid pulled out his phone and called someone, putting them on speaker.

"Friendly neighborhood tech genius."

"Hey Garcia you've got me and Walker right now. Can you do a background into Officer Connor Wilkins?"

"The officer who found Melissa Stevens?"

"Yeah, something seems off about him." I jumped in, pulling into the parking lot.

"Alright will do, get back to you in a jiffy. Garcia out." The line went dead quicker than I could snap. Turning the car off, I briefly checked my phone before hopping out. There was a text on the screen from Drew-- 'have a good day princess <3' Reid must have noticed because he looked over at me with a weird look.

"Boyfriend?"

"Far from it." I chuckled hopping out of the car, "He’s happily dating another man."

"Ah." He said, his face turning a little red at the rejection of his assumption.

The coroner's office is colder than I thought it would be, and that's saying something. The coroner, Doctor Overta, brought us over to the body and was reading off what she had determined happened to the woman. Died of asphyxiation, sexual assault, the carving of the messages into the legs was done antemortem, and something about the bodies felt eerily familiar to me. It must have had the same effect on Reid because he was squinting at the body oddly too.

"The hair was also dyed postmortem." Huh. That was strange, the hair had been dyed to a dark brown, and it clicked for me.

"They look like you." Reid said slowly, turning towards me with wide eyes. Breath hitched in my throat as I returned the scared gaze. I pulled out my phone and called Hotch immediately. 

Something was wrong here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks for reading Chapter 3! I'm trying to write as much as I can, but school has been a little crazy.


	4. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid and Walker have come to the strange conclusion that the victims were made to look just like you. Hotch calls the two of you back to the police station and you're questioned about your involvement in the case. We also get some TC and Lizzy fluff (introducing one of TC and Jordan's kids, Nick)

Aaron picked up on the first ring.

"Hotchner."

"The victims' hair was dyed to look like Walker. I mean they kind of looked like her before, but with the hair? Now it's just obvious."

"The two of you get your asses back here we need to figure this stuff out."

"Yes sir, see you soon." Reid hung up with a grim look on his face. "Hotch called us back to the station; he seemed angry."

"First case, and this job is already crazy."

The two of us got back in the car and all but sped back to the police station, sitting in silence. Multiple thoughts kept running through my brain, mostly just wondering how I got into this mess. I knew only three people in this town: Detective Gonzalez, Officer Wilkins, and Doctor Overta, and somebody was trying to use my type as their victim? Trying to claim someone like me, if not me as theirs? Something just seemed really off. I wasn't the only one that thought so apparently, both Hotch and Reid seemed really concerned about what was happening.

We arrived at the station before we knew it, almost flying out of the car to get to the glass conference room in order to avoid provoking Hotch's anger. As we approached, he and JJ were bent over the table in conversation, overlooking the different portions of the case with vigor, trying to figure out who knows what.

"Hey," I said meekly, entering the conference room, holding the door behind me for Reid, "You wanted to talk to us?"

"Yeah-- do you have any connection to the area around here?"

"No, not that I know of-- the only place I can think of that was around here, and only in the general area of upstate New York is a church retreat that I used to go to when I was a little girl."

"Do you know if anybody you know would want to harm you like this or mark you as theirs that might have moved in the time of you knowing them?"

 _Shit_.

"The only person I can think of is a crappy ex of mine, but I cut off communications with him years ago. We only sometimes see each other in passing when I visit PA to see some friends. Other than that, no I don't think so." Hotch visibly tensed up at the mention of my ex-- what was he thinking?

"We need his name."

"Zach." I tried to contain the wince, or facial emotion of disgust.

"Last name?"

"Carlin."

"I'll have Garcia check it out," JJ said, pulling out her phone and moving to leave the room, "Keep working guys."

I sank into a chair across from Aaron, placing my head in my hands, and sighing. I could feel Reid sit down relatively near me, flipping open his files, and I could also feel Aaron's gaze. After taking a moment, I raised my head, brushing my hair out of my face, and tried to fight off memories of him. I reached for another file, flipping it open and looking at the different pictures inside. _Was this my fault?_ My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket, looking at the screen. TC.

"Hey T," I said, answering it, "What's up?"

"I need your brain."

"Of course."

"Ah, ah, ah. First, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong, T."

"Uh, yes it is. I can hear it in your voice, kiddo."

I sighed before answering, "A case that we think might be connected to me and Zach."

"Yikes. I thought we left that asshole in the dirt years ago."

"I thought we did too. Now what do you need my brain for? Medical stuff or Jordan stuff?"

"Jordan stuff."

"It's almost always Jordan stuff," I chuckled, "What did you do this time?"

"We got into an argument, about how Nicky did something at pre-school."

"Okay... what did he do?"

"Bite someone."

"He's your kid through and through, T."

"But he did it because someone was making fun of him."

"So claim self defense?"

"But Jordan doesn't want him biting people, and I don't either, but I want to teach the kid to defend himself too."

"TC, he's two. Jordan wants him to be passive, and to handle himself with his words, and you want to teach him to defend himself physically. Compromise and do a little bit of both, but you have to keep in mind T, he's two and doesn't really need to be learning how to fight just yet."

"Also very true. So do I tell her she's right?"

"Always tell her she's right. It's Jordan."

"Okay thank you honey. Stay strong kiddo, and I love you."

"I love you too T. Say hi to everyone for me."

"Yup. Bye."

I hung up the phone, and put it back in my pocket, a little cheered up by his antics. Reid gave me a look.

"Is he the one that's dating the other guy?" Reid asked, catching Hotch's attention again.

"No, that's Drew. The guy I was talking to was TC, who's married to a woman named Jordan, and they have a son together."

"Was he in the Army with you?"

"Yup, so was his brother Thad, and Drew is too."

"Do you still talk to Thad?"

"I wish I could. I was standing six feet away from him when he died." I said, admitting one of the sadder points in my life. Surprisingly, I didn't think I would be telling anyone here about that yet. Reid looked shocked, and so did Hotch.

"I'm sorry." Reid said, cringing.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." I said smiling, nudging him with my shoulder. Aaron looked over at me, trying to gage where my emotions were at. I ignored the attempt, putting back on my neutral face until JJ came clambering back into the room. We all looked up at her, wondering what she was so rushed about.

"Zach Carlin moved to this town a year and a half ago."

 _Just my_ _luck._


	5. Girls' Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite Walker's involvement with the case, the team still manages a way to enjoy each other's presence and have a bit of fun. When they get to the hotel, Walker gets invited to girls night with JJ, Emily, Garcia (on video call) and Morgan and Reid, when something goes wrong. Yes Derek and Reid are part of the 'girls.' Rossi is too but he's tiiiired.

It must have been hours that the four of us were sitting there, combing through case files and background checks trying to see where my life, and Carlin's fantasy matched up, because when Rossi came back into the precinct, he told us it was time to go to the hotel. I don't think I've ever been more relieved in my life to sit down, eat, and go to bed. Scratch that, I can think of five more times. We all rose from the conference table, following Rossi into the SUVs, bickering over where we wanted to get food from. We settled on a fast food chain, fast and easy in order to get back to the hotel in a timely manner to check in.

I was sitting next to Emily in the car, with JJ sitting up front with Hotch when they turned to swivel their heads at me, in between bites of burger.

"You're coming to girls night tonight, right?" JJ asked, turning around to look at me, practically clambering over Aaron's arm to make eye to eye contact.

"Girls night?"

"Yeah, we get together in one of our hotel rooms and talk and have fun."

"Who all is going?" I asked, looking at Emily.

"Me, JJ, Garcia over the phone, Reid and Morgan."

"Reid and Morgan go to your girls nights?" Hotch chuckled from the drivers seat.

"Yeah they've been initiated into the group and everything. They love to gossip with us."

"Why am I not surprised one bit?" He said, rubbing his eyes.

"You're just jealous 'cause you're not invited." I retorted, rolling my eyes laughing.

"No, Rossi and I are just fine hanging out by ourselves."

"Actually Rossi was invited too, he just wasn't feeling up to it tonight." JJ shrugged, clicking through something on her phone.

"Rossi's in the group too?" Aaron asked, glancing between JJ and the road with wide, surprised eyes.

"Yup!" Emily laughed, and I tried to contain my chuckle.

"So why haven't I been invited?" He inquired.

"Because you don't have any fun gossip!" 

"I do."

"Say some of it then."

"Uhhh-- Jack's doing good in pre-school?"

"That's not gossip you dork!" I laughed from the back seat, "Give us something juicy!"

"Haley's divorcing me?" The car went silent. Dead silent. 

"Maybe we should have group therapy night too." I mumbled from the back seat, loud enough for Emily to hear and she nodded.

"I think Garcia does that we could totally set it up." She said and I slipped her a high five.

"What was that?" Aaron asked, trying to get in on the conversation.

"Group therapy night?"

"I could go with that," JJ said, "all of us have trauma to talk about." I pulled out my phone and made a group text with Emily and JJ. ' _Operation Get Hotch to Smile for once in his life (group therapy night) is underway.'_ Emily smiled at her phone, and nodded at me, and JJ gave me a secret thumbs up.

"Hey my friend Landry is a psychiatrist and she lives near Quantico now, we could get her to help too."

"She one of your doctor friends?" Aaron asked, me glancing at me in the rearview.

"Yup! I think she got a new number though. I'll ask my boss--er well I guess he's not my boss anymore to get it for me."

"Sounds like a plan."

Just over an hour later, the 'girls' were all in pajama-like clothing sitting in Reid and I's room having girl night. We had been laughing at something Garcia was saying for the past five minutes, a funny story of a date she had went on recently. After we finished up the story, Morgan looked at me expectantly, before trying to sidle up next to me with an 'innocent' look on his face. 

"So hot stuff, got somebody speeeecial?" He asked batting his eyelashes.

"Noooo." I said, a slight pink tinge coming to my cheeks.

"Oh my god she totally does." Garcia squeaked from the phone.

"No I don't," I laughed, "No one."

"Oh, so it's a crush." Emily said, poking me, "Who is it?"

"No one," I said, pleading with my eyes.

"Oh c'mon don't think I didn't see the way you were making eyes at Hotch."

"Morgan! I wasn't!" I squeaked, feeling my cheeks burning. At least I didn't think I was making eyes.

"Lizzy's got a cruuuuush." Reid sing-songed, laughing a little. 

"Shut up guys!! So Morgan how about the Bears losing?"

"Dirty trick Lizzy, dirty trick." He shook his head, wagging his finger at me. There was a knock on the door, light enough that it could barely be heard over the laughter. But then it came again and it got louder. 

I got up to go answer it, my socked feet padding on the floor, and I opened the knob with the sleeve of my Penn State sweatshirt. When I opened up the door, there was nobody there, and I ever so slightly stepped out into the hallway to see if they had gone down the hallway. My foot hit a box, and I paused to pick it up. It was wrapped delicately and I looked at it strangely. Reid noticed and came over to me, hovering over my shoulder looking at the box. My eyes widened as I recognized the familiar scrawl on the card attached, and I squeaked. Looking up at Reid, he almost immediately understood what my squeak meant and went out to knock on the door next to us. A tired looking Hotch rubbed his eyes and looked at Reid, expectantly.

"Liz got a present and by her reaction, I would guess it's from that Zach Carlin guy." Reid said, rubbing his hands together. Hotch immediately looked concerned, and all the exhaustion in his eyes disappeared as they filled with concern, grabbing his key, leaving the room and going into mine, ignoring the ruckus coming from the rest of the group. I followed him deeper into the room and sat up on the counter, looking at the box worriedly. He looked up at me, with his soft brown eyes, filled with worry for what was happening right now.

"Did you open it yet?" 

"No I was too scared to at first. Do you want me to?"

"We need gloves first. Reid do you have some on you?" Aaron asked, turning to the tall man. Reid nodded and rushed over to his go bag, pulling out two pairs of blue gloves, handing a pair to me and another to Hotch. I slipped them on with ease, silently thanking my medical career and picked the box up from the counter. I detached the note, and opened it, and as I read it my brows furrowed, and I was fighting back an angry reaction.

_Mi flora_

_Did you see what I did for you? What I did for us? We will be together soon, even if I have to hurt him to get to you._

_Forever yours,_

_Tu amor_

As I finished reading, Aaron looked up at me, trying to search for answers.

"Who does he mean when he says 'him?'"

"I-- uh, I was talking about my new job went I went home a couple of weeks ago, and how I was excited to go. He was there. Joe asked me who-- Shit."

"What is it?"

"He's talking about you Hotch."


	6. uh oh its the electric boogaloo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liz explains how Carlin found Aaron's name, and the team decides that the two of them have to work the case from the hotel or the precinct only. Together.
> 
> I apologize for the chapter title I just idk man its hard to come up with them

"What do you mean he's talking about me?" Aaron's worry turned into frustrated confusion.

"I was together with a group of friends and he was there and he must've heard me. I was talking about how excited I was for this job and Joe asked me who my boss was because I was talking about how Strauss said you were a protective hardass and I said your name and he must've heard me?" I rushed through the words, scrambling to try to not make him angry.

"Protective hardass?" 

"We can talk about that later." I said in a sing-song voice an embarrassed smile stretched across my face.

"So he knows who he is. He wants to kill Hotch to get to you. He knows who we are and where we're staying. Well this is a problem." Reid said from behind us leaning on the counter.

"What do we do?" I asked, my eyes frantically flicking between people.

"We move Liz and Hotch to a different hotel, and keep them out of the field for as long as possible."

"But--"

"This isn't a negotiation Elizabeth." Hotch sighed, moving slightly closer to me, and leaned his back against the counter.

"We never opened the box." I said faintly. Everyone swung their head around to me, looking with concern. I picked up the box off of the counter, and started to slowly undo the bow.

"Wait what if it's armed?" Morgan practically yelled.

"He doesn't want to hurt me. It won't be." I replied gently taking off the lid. There were stacks of photos inside. Photos of me in Afghanistan, at home, with the night shift, with my family with the BAU, with everyone. I gasped, and dropped the box onto the counter like it was hot. He had scratched off every face except mine and glued his own face over theirs. Tears ran down my face and pulling off a glove I ran to my phone to make a call. It felt like forever until Ragosa picked up.

"Liz?" I thought you were on a case?"

"Ragosa I need you to get the entire shift to hear me on this call, do you understand?" I said, placing the phone on speaker on the counter, grabbing at pictures.

"Okay?" I could hear muffled shouting and the rush of feet. Hotch looked at me, frustrated, but also confused as to what the hell I was doing.

"Princess? We're all here, what's wrong?" I could hear Drew's voice flood the phone. At the nickname, Aaron frowned hoping it wasn't a boyfriend.

"Zach Carlin is what's wrong. I need all of you to be extra vigilant until we have him in custody. He wants to hurt everyone close to me in order to get to me and he's in New York right now but that could change any minute, okay? I need you all to be safe and to be okay. Watch out for each other."

"Of course. Do you need anything from us right now?" Jordan asked, and I could hear the ragged breathing in her voice.

"One of Kenny's bear hugs," I said laughing, "but that's not going to happen, so just stay safe. I love you guys."

"We love you too." The line went dead. The team looked at me, worried as I swiped my eyes.

"I'm sorry guys, I know I should've asked first but I need them all to be okay. I need them." I said, shakily. Morgan came closer to me and wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in a hug. I breathed in his cologne and relaxed against him. He wasn't Kenny, but the hug felt amazing. After a few minutes we broke apart and continued to look at the pictures.

"I'm not even sure how he got some of these. The ones of me overseas are mainly between me and the shift, along with the shift photos. Family photos aren't hard, my mom is an avid Facebooker. But the BAU ones? I've only been here for a day!" 

"It looks like he's been following us around town." Reid said, gingerly picking up one of me and him. I shuddered at the thought, and tugged on the strings of my hoodie to have something to occupy myself with. Looking over at another photo, I saw Aaron and I walking towards the car together, but his face was scratched out more than the others. It looked like it could almost have a hole in it.

"Guys, he had overkill on Hotch's face on this one, there's almost a hole." I said, picking it up. Aaron came over to look at it, standing directly behind me, almost hanging over my shoulder. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck and I shivered. I looked at him, worriedly, and he exchanged the same look. Placing a hand on the small of my back, he led me over away from the group by my go bag to talk.

"Are you okay with it just being the two of us over at the other hotel?"

"Yeah, we're adults. Plus I have a big scary FBI agent to protect me." I laughed.

"Big and scary?"

"I don't know," I laughed, "You are big and intimidating."

"Alright then. Well I'll have a small doctor to patch me up after I protect you." He smiled, glancing between my eyes and my lips.

"You're lucky I brought my medical go bag."

"You have a medical go bag?" Aaron's brows furrowed.

"Habit of being an ER doctor and a field medic. Bring supplies wherever you go-- you don't know when you'll need 'em," I smiled, pulling the smaller red bag out. "Suture kits, gauze, rubbing alcohol, I've got a lot in here. Just not enough to do everything." 

"That's actually smart." Aaron said agreeing with my decision. Derek interrupted our conversation just as Rossi walked in the door.

"We gotta get the two of you outta here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah two chapters in one day? Can you tell I finished my bio work early ;)
> 
> This one was a little shorter, I'm working out how I want to play the next couple parts of the story so they'll most likely being getting longer as I go. Or at least I'll try to be making them longer


	7. New Hotel, Same Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hotch and Walker go to their new hotel in an attempt to evade Carlin. They are being forced to work from the hotel, and they get to know each other a little. Hotch starts to trust her. Yes we're doing the only one bed trope I enjoy it too much. Pretty fluffy the first night

Aaron and I's new hotel was a step down from the other one. Quite frankly, in a small town like this, I'm surprised there was even a second hotel in the first place. It was late at night by the time we got in, and we placed our go bags on the floor, rubbing tired eyes. Aaron's eyes widened as he noticed something in the room, that I hadn't even noticed yet, still looking at the butchered pictures hanging from my hands. Looking up at him, I saw his eyes fixated on something. Following his gaze, I sighed as I realized. There was only one bed. Great. 

"I can take the couch if you want me to," I offered up, setting the pictures down on the counter, "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Y'know, usually that conversation is the other way around," Aaron said, his sigh sounding almost like a laugh, "So I'll offer to take the couch."

"But we don't want your back giving out." I joked, throwing him a glance, making a play off his age.

"I'm only in my thirties, Liz, I'm not that old." He huffed, crossing his arms. 

"Still old." I said, hopping on the bed, bouncing off of it only slightly. "If it's comfortable with you we could always share the bed-- we're adults."

"Fair enough." Aaron came over by the bed, kicking off his shoes that he had put on in a rush earlier. He pulled back the covers, and slipped underneath them, pulling them up to his chest, awkwardly laying on his back trying to give me my distance. I took that as a sign to get in bed too, getting off to turn off the main lights. I padded back to the bed, crawling on the bed to my side, and bundling myself under the covers. I reached over to turn off the table lamp, and then I also laid on my back, staring up at the ceiling, while trying to get myself into a cocoon of blankets.

"Do you have enough blankets?" I softly asked, wrapped up in my burrito, the top of my face only hanging out. Aaron looked over at me and chuckled as I turned on my side to face him.

"Yeah. Are you cold?" He asked, looking at me with warmth in his eyes.

"Only a little." I said, sticking my face out enough that he could see my smile.

"I think you are the tiniest burrito I've ever seen." He said, and I could make out his smile in the dark.

"Hey!" I yelped, granting me a laugh, "I'm not _that_ tiny."

"Yes you are." 

"Well that's not my fault. You're just mad you didn't think to make a burrito." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he inched slightly closer.

"I'm not tiny and I'm not cold." He said with a smile, finally turning over to face me. 

"Lucky you, big scary FBI man. I bet you never get cold."

"Damn straight." He huffed, trying to make a tough face.

"You look like you're about to take a shit." I laughed, sticking my nose back under the covers. Even in the dark, I could tell he got bright red, and amended his face.

"Was not."

"Was to." 

"Are you still cold?"

"What?"

"Are you still cold?"

"Yeah, just a little."

"C'mere." He said, reaching an arm out, and I scooched closer to him, laying my head on his shoulder. 

"Jeez, you're warm." I said, unwrapping myself a little from the burrito, wrapping my arms around him. He seemed a little stunned, even if he was the one to invite me closer. "You should share your body heat with me more often." I blurted out, before realizing the way I said it. "I-I'm sorry sir that was really unprofessional." I said, disentangling myself from him a little more.

"It's fine, I understood what you meant." He said, but let me keep the distance I took. Satisfied with my position, I yawned, embracing the heat radiating from Aaron. 

"Night." I said, closing my eyes, feeling sleep starting to take me.

"Goodnight." He said back, also closing his eyes.

I slept without dreams.

-

The next morning, light filtered through the sheer curtains covering the window, shining straight into Aaron's eyes. He woke up first, initially confused by his location, and the fact that there was a burrito of blankets, face turning away from him pressed up against his chest. He moved his arm from its hip, trying to get up as silently as possible. He slipped into the bathroom, grabbing toiletries and a change of clothes on his way by and grabbed a shower. He tried to remember what had happened last night, but the exhaustion had swept away most of his memories, and he was left with nothing. 

Adorned in sweatpants and a t-shirt, he came out of the bathroom, toweling off his hair gently, turning to inspect the figure on his bed. It had turned, and revealed it was his new agent, Liz. She stretched as she woke up, her eyes slowly opening, and proceeded to try and get herself out from the mountain of blankets she was wrapped in. After about two minutes of entangling, she had finally gotten up off of the bed and out of her cocoon and rubbed her eyes, looking at Aaron. 

"Morning." She said, coming over to her go bag to grab her shower bag, and an acceptable outfit.

"How'd you sleep?" Aaron asked, wondering if she remembered more than he did. 

"Wonderfully. I wasn't cold anymore." Liz said with a knowing smile, before disappearing into the bathroom. Aaron was left in confusion. By the position he woke up in, he would assume he brought her closer for warmth, but there were still gaps missing, but they were starting to fill in, most memories filled with laughter, mostly from his end. Him, laughing? Impossible.

He was broken out of his stupor by Liz coming out of the bathroom, her hair still damp, a brush in hand. Aaron watched as she combed out her hair, paying careful attention to it, before she grabbed her laptop. 

"Derek said they'd video call us from the precinct. We might want to start working on making sure Carlin fits the profile, and a profile in general."

"Oh, uh, yeah, right. Of course." He said, coming over to stand by her and the laptop. They worked to set up the technology before turning to pull out files and read over them again, this time with fresh eyes.

By the time they were starting to get anywhere, the call from Derek came in. They were greeted with solemn faces of the team, and the detective pacing behind them.

"They found another body last night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, I really enjoy writing this fic! Sorry for the late update, I've been swamped with school, and bio is still definitely kicking my ass.


	8. Another One Bites the Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The unsub dropped another body, but this time with a more personal message...

"There's another body." I echoed the words just told to me, almost completely zoning out with rushes of anxiety and more and more thoughts.

"Was there another message?" Aaron stepped in, and I managed to give him a grateful glance that he acknowledged with a nod.

"Yeah, and this time it was more..... Personal." Penelope says, pulling up the crime scene images on all of our screens. This time around it was another brunette, strangled like the ones before it, but the carvings in her legs didn't come out to be words. They were purely gashes done out of obvious rage, the wounds being so jagged it was easy to see where the perforations of the knife were. Instead of the gruesome message carved out into her body, there was a blood-stained piece of paper strung around her neck with a ribbon. 

_Mi flora,_

_Do you see what you did to her? What you do to me?_

_When will you give up this meaningless charade and come home to me where you belong?_

_Your true calling is to me, my dear._

_I told you you would never make it. Come back to me before someone else gets hurt. This time I will not be as gentle._

_Forever yours,_

_Carlin._

"He didn't even bother signing it as anyone else?" Emily noted. "He's got to know she knows who he is by now."

"He does. He knows I would recognize that handwriting anywhere, no matter how bad I try to forget it and him," I sighed, dropping my head defeatedly into my hands. "There's nobody else who would call me that."

"Reid and Prentiss, I want you to go to the coroner's office, see if you can dig anything else up there. Morgan, Rossi and JJ to the crime scene. I want details, and see if you can find anything that would lead us towards where he would strike next. Garcia, I want you digging up more information on this guy. I want addresses, phone numbers, family, anything you can give me. His files were sealed, so unseal them and get me some info."

Multiple "yes sirs" were echoed throughout the call before everyone signed off, no doubt to go do the work assigned to them. I raised my head off my hands, and moved to flop down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. There were memories floating around in my head, that of us together, mixed in with case details, and I squeezed my eyes shut, attempting to rid myself of those images, and focus on new ones. Nothing was working. All that was staring me back was Carlin's blue eyes, angry and full of distaste that he could easily mask as love when we were together. Thoughts of him, breaking me down continuously, only to falsely bring me back up again, yelling, fights turned into tears. 

I was shaken out of my spiral quite literally by the bed near-bouncing when Aaron sat down next to me. He cautiously looked over at me, trying to gauge whether I was sane right now or not. Well, more like upset or not, but in his mind they could be very similar things with the right person. 

"You alright?" He asked softly, folding his hands in his lap. He was damn near fighting the urge to reach out to the woman next to him. She opened her eyes, and took in the ceiling for a moment, before turning her head to look at him.

"I'm not sure."

"It's alright not to be okay, y'know." He said. To his luck, Liz reached out to him, gently placing her hand over his own. 

"I'm going to be okay. We just need to catch this bastard, and I feel like I should be out there right now, but I know I can't be." Aaron nodded in response, turning his whole body to face her more, and flipping his hand palm-up to hold hers.

"It's safer for you in here, you know. He can't get to you in here."

"With my big scary FBI agent, right?" She lets out a little chuckle, "He could get to me anywhere, back then, why would it change now?"

"What?"

"He could get to me anywhere. I could be sitting alone in my room, and he could still get to me, albeit verbally or emotionally."

"Did he hurt you?"

"Yeah, in plenty of ways," at Aaron's wide eyes, "But only a little in terms of physical hurt."

A few tears slipped out.

"I try not to think about it." She said, looking up at him. It took all of Aaron's strength to let her come to him, instead of hugging her right out like he wanted. He never wanted to overstep with her. Especially not right now.

"He's never going to hurt you again, Liz."

"He already is." A sad smile crossed her face, only guessing of what was to come.

\- 

A young man, with brown hair falling into his eyes sat down at a desk, the light around him only faltering slightly.

From his pocket, he pulled out a box, and opens it.

It contains newly minted pictures of the BAU, and he pulls out a red marker right beside it. 

Opening the red marker, he smiles crossing over the different faces.

Pulling out one in particular, he sets to work circling over the man's face.

He's sitting next to the girl he loves.

But not for long.

The man tacks up the photo on the wall in front of him.

"See you soon, Agent Hotchner."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I'm so sorry for the late update, things have been crazy what with classes, and this time of year just sucks with anniversaries of deaths, and that sort of thing, so I'm pushing this chapter out with the hope of getting back in everyone's good graces... Haha here you go!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter/fic as I had writing it :)


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